CAPUTO: Power arms give Tigers' bullpen a fighting chance

In 2013, the Tigers almost got away with uncertainty in their bullpen.

It didn’t matter for a long stretch if rookie Bruce Rondon didn’t pan out as closer, and general manager Dave Dombrowski was forced to turn back to the banished Jose Valverde, who was, predictably, ineffective. Or if Joaquin Benoit was taken out of his comfort zone as one of baseball’s best setup men, and forced into the closer’s role, a spot he struggled with in the past. Or if Phil Coke disappointed after a dazzling performance during the postseason in ’12.

The Tigers’ bullpen was 17-25 with a 4.01 ERA. It was 24th worst among 30 Major League Baseball clubs.

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The Tigers won the American League Central anyway. They downed Oakland for the second straight year in the American League Division Series.

Then Benoit and Jose Veras allowed gut-wrenching home runs to Boston’s David Ortiz and Shane Victorino during the American League Championship Series.

The Tigers had been living on borrowed time. Ultimately, their bullpen proved to be their biggest undoing. It was just later than anticipated.

Veteran free agent Joe Nathan is more of a sure thing than Benoit as a closer.

The rest of the bullpen doesn’t appear to be much different. Joba Chamberlain is a big name from the Yankees, but he is not coming off a good season. Drew Smyly was amazingly effective as a left-handed setup man last year considering his background had been strictly as a starter. However, he has moved into the starting rotation because Doug Fister was traded to Washington.

Lefty Ian Krol, one of the players coming from the Nationals in the Fister trade, will replace Smyly as the Tigers’ lefty setup man.

But if you want to know Dombrowski’s thoughts on how to piece together a bullpen, his actions speak louder than his words.

Simply follow the radar gun readings. They will tell you the story of where he stands on pitching - period. Dombrowski loves power arms. Big fastballs. Pitchers who light up the radar gun like a pinball machine.

There may be a lot of uncertainty about the Tigers’ bullpen, but not about the arm strength.

These are the average speed of each of the above-mentioned relievers in 2013, according to the Bill James Baseball Handbook: Rondon (99.3), Chamberlain (94.7), Nathan (92.2), Krol (93.5), Coke (93.4), Alburquerque (94.3), Putkonen (94.1), Reed (95.5). Most are very high end. Only Nathan’s is remotely average – and his outpitch is devastating slider.

Rondon is especially intriguing. He had by far the most 100 mph-plus fastballs in the American League last season (144), and the second most in Major League Baseball, behind only Cincinnati’s Aroldis Chapman. Rondon pitched just 28 2-3 innings. His average fastball was considerably faster than that of Chapman (98.3), who is considered one of the hardest throwers of all-time.

Rondon is being underestimated. He does have secondary pitches to go with his heater. He could be an enormous presence in the bullpen.

Last year, the Red Sox bullpen came together perfectly well – and it had been a glaring weakness.

If anybody tells you they projected Kori Uehara, at 38, would emerge as by far the best closer in baseball late in the year and postseason, they are lying. Or that Craig Breslow would be a shutdown situational lefty for the Red Sox.

Trevor Rosenthal, a former 21st round draft pick with a big-time fastball, starred for the Cardinals in the postseason. Before Rosenthal emerged, Edward Mujica had 37 saves. He had four – total – in his previous seven MLB seasons. Neither could remotely be projected having such an impact.

The Tigers have nothing but power arms in the bullpen. It’s the plan.

While it guarantees them nothing, at least it gives them a fighting chance.